Bagha date-tree growers earn Tk 10cr in winter season

RAJSHAHI, Nov 27: Bagha upazila of the district is famous for its date-molasses. The season of winter is approaching, and with it, the trade on date-molasses has also started.
An estimated Tk 10 crore is earned from this field each winter here. Now, the farmers are passing busy times in collecting date-juice and processing molasses across the upazila.
 According to the information of upazila Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE)  office, the farmers of the upazila send molasses to different areas of the country including the capital Dhaka every year.
More than 30,000 farmer families under seven union parishads and two municipalities live in the upazila where every family has at least three date-trees, the DAE sources said.
There are about 1.5 lakh date-trees in around 3,000 orchards and beside roads and railway tracks, and on free lands and homesteads, and date-molasses are produced commercially here, the sources informed.
A farmer can produce 20 to 25 kg of molasses from a single date-tree in a season. As there is no need of extra care for the trees, it may be a very profitable business.
But, some dishonest traders are doing brisk business by making molasses using sugar which is very harmful for human body, some farmers alleged. The administration should take necessary steps against the dishonest traders and their illegal venture, they said.
Abdur Razzak, a molasses trader of Borokhadia area in the upazila, said the molasses of Bagha upazila is famous throughout the country.
Saimuddin, a farmer of Amodpur village in the upazila, said, "I have appointed two farmers to collect juice from my 150 date-trees and process molasses. From a single day's sale, I earn around Tk 3,000, selling date-molasses at Tk 70-72 per kg."
Sabina Yeasmin, upazila agriculture officer, said that over Tk 10 crore is earned from this sector every year.
"We are suggesting the farmers to further expand the trade," she said, adding that the business might play a vital role in changing the socio-economic condition of the whole region.